Case Number 00925

THE CAMERAMAN'S REVENGE AND OTHER FANTASTIC TALES

The Charge

The best animator you've never heard of.

Opening Statement

Even aficionados of animation rarely know his name. You may dimly remember
seeing clips of his work on cable late at night. Even the IMDb incorrectly
identifies his masterwork, "The Mascot," under the name "The
Devil's Ball," and dates it eight years too early (and offers no other
credits at all). His name is Ladislaw Starewicz. And if you like Henry Selick,
or the Brothers Quay, or George Pal's Puppetoons, you might want to remember who
he is.

The Evidence

Ladislaw Starewicz began his career at the birth of filmmaking, in
pre-Revolutionary Moscow. His initial interests lay in documentary filmmaking,
particularly nature films. But when Starewicz found himself using stop-motion
effects to simulate a beetle fight, he discovered his true talent was
narrative.

The Cameraman's Revenge collects six of Starewicz's masterpieces,
covering several phases of his long career. Image's DVD presentation defaults
directly to the feature itself, but any of the films are selectable from the
main index. The first four shorts are presented with restored tinting and stock
silent music, while "The Mascot" is presented in black and white, with
a restored soundtrack by Edouard Flament. "Winter Carousel" was
photographed in color.

"The Cameraman's Revenge" (1912): This first short is an amusing,
if oddly sordid soap opera about a pair of married beetles who are unfaithful to
one another. This is more than a simple children's film: it is most intriguing
for its critique of a sexual double standard in marriage (the husband beats his
wife for having an affair, but is himself exposed publicly for cheating as
well).

"The Insect's Christmas" (1913): A tiny Father Christmas escapes
from atop a tree in order to treat the insects of the forest to a Christmas
party. This is perhaps the most lightweight of the shorts on this disc, but a
nice example of Starewicz's happier pre-Revolutionary tone (and an interesting
contrast with the final short in the program).

"The Frogs Who Wanted a King" (1922): Now things get interesting.
Fleeing for his life following the Russian Revolution, Starewicz settled in
Paris and began to infuse his work with a subtle political agenda. Sponsored by
the expatriate Russian Art Society of Paris, this short, sometimes entitled
"Frogland," retells the fable of a group of frogs who demand Jupiter
send them a king. At first, he sends a log, which sits and does nothing.
Dissatisfied, the frogs plead to Jupiter (does he look a little like Karl Marx?)
to send somebody a bit more active. So Jupiter sends a stork, who eats the
frogs. Finally, Jupiter tops it all off with a lightning bolt attack on the
survivors. A conspicuous critique of the recent political turmoil in Russia
(from the disinterested tsar to the vengeful Lenin), this beautifully animated
work stands as a political fable for any generation. What is most striking at
this stage of Starewicz's career is his command of film technique: dozens of
smoothly moving figures given a strong sense of personality. And his skills only
improve from here.

"Voice of the Nightingale" (1923): A little girl (played by
Starewicz's daughter Nina, who appeared in many of his films) traps a
nightingale. That evening, the bird sings visions into her dreams: lovely
dancing flower petals and insects (clearly a visual influence on the
"Nutcracker" segment in Fantasia) and the touching story of the
nightingale's courtship and marriage. The moral: birds (and all of nature) are
not toys and should be treated as independent subjects.

"The Mascot" (1933): You may remember that I listed this film in a
recent column as one of the most important short films ever produced. Well, here
it is: the story of a poor mother and daughter, and a loyal toy dog on a quest
to bring his beloved owner an orange. Sound sentimental? It is, but it holds up
well as an allegory for the Depression that gripped Europe in the 1930s. The
dog's desire to bring the little girl a small bit of hope, a glimpse of a world
of sunshine and flavor, is nearly thwarted by a horde of monstrous creatures
that stand in his way. The classic sequence here is the notorious "Devil's
Ball," featuring some of the most stunning stop-motion animation ever put
on film. How did Starewicz manage to animate creatures made from torn paper,
twigs, shoe leather, bones, and even balloons and make them all breathe with
life? A masterpiece of surrealism, "The Mascot" alone is reason for
animation fans to track down this disc.

"Winter Carousel" (1958): By the end of his long and prolific
career (Starewicz died in 1965), Starewicz had achieved huge success producing
commercial films for clients throughout Europe. But his first love remained
children's films. A rabbit and brown bear dance and skate through a Christmas
wonderland, flirting with a cute female bear and teasing a plump snowman. But
soon, the seasons pass, and the snowman melts into a scarecrow-like piper of
spring. The rabbit and bear play a bit, but must soon settle down and get to
work planting (keep an eye on that dancing grasshopper -- Henry Selick will pay
tribute to him later in James and the Giant Peach). The moral: seasons
change, and play must give way to work, but friendship always holds fast.

As noted above, the films come in a mix of tinted black and white and color.
The earlier ones are not in ideal condition: numerous scratches are evident on
the prints, but the films appear complete and are probably in the best shape
possible under the circumstances (considering that some of them are older than
Strom Thurmond).

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Although much is made on the packaging of Starewicz's importance to the
history of animation, extras on this DVD are conspicuously lacking. A few lines
of biography on the inside of the snapper case -- and that is it. No background
or documentary information, much less anything on his amazing animation
techniques, are contained in the film presentation itself. This is a major
disappointment. In addition, at only 80 minutes, the program seems far too
short. Where is Starewicz's famous hour-long adaptation of "Reynard the
Fox," a decade-in-the-making effort long considered a masterpiece on par
with "The Mascot?" Starewicz made dozens of short films in his career,
and it seems rather stingy of Image to give us only six. And no supplemental
material to boot.

Closing Statement

Given the lack of extras, I expect only real animation buffs will appreciate
this disc. Casual fans who have never heard of Starewicz or his legacy will find
this taste intriguing, but not as enlightening as it should be. It is always
great to see the great film pioneers preserved (considering how much of film
history has been lost or ignored by the general public), but there is just too
little here to draw in newcomers. If you are a fan of classic animation,
particularly stop-motion, then I highly recommend adding this disc to your
collection. "The Mascot" by itself is almost worth the disc price
alone.

The Verdict

This court sentences Image Entertainment to a class in film history. Your
"Milestone Collection" needs to be more accessible to the general
public. Otherwise, this court finds no fault with Ladislaw Starewicz or his
work